Finding Spirit in the Modern World

Parting the Mists: Finding Spirit in the Modern World started as a way to share experiences and thoughts on the Avalonian spiritual tradition but has expanded to explore other related paths and ideas. It aims to be inclusive, being a place for men as well as women and Christians as well as Pagans.

This blog encourages everyone to participate in this journey in the Comments section. However, this blogger does insist that all participants remain civil to one another and not resort to name calling or slander. Comments that do this will be deleted.

Thistle (or PJ Graham in the mundane world) has been a Pagan since 1997. Intrigued by Arthurian stories since high school, she later discovered the Avalonian tradition in 2005 and has been following it since. She is a founding member and a Morgan and Priestess Novitiate of The Daughters of the Sacred Grail. She also pursues spiritual interests such as other forms of Celtic spirituality and American folk magic.

Growing up in southwest Missouri near the Ozarks, she considers the rocky hills covered with cedars, oaks, redbuds, dogwoods, and sumac to be her own version of Avalon.

Using her English degree, she has worked as a writer, editor, and desktop publisher for several newspapers and the marketing departments of two companies. Now, she works as a freelance writer. She lives with her partner and his daughter in southeast Kansas along with three dogs and three cats. Considering herself a bit of a domestic nut, she enjoys baking, herbalism, and jellying as well as hand drumming, photography, and reading. She and her partner also work together on Ozark Obscura (Facebook and soon on WordPress) and Spellhawks Press (Facebook and WordPress). She is also working on a Yule-inspired oracle deck.

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6 Responses

Hi Thistle, good to find your blog. I’m also interested in Avalon, Annwn and Welsh mythology and have an interest in working with those deities and entering the Otherworlds from my local area (I live in the North West of England). I’m looking forward to reading more of your posts.

Hi, Lorna. The tradition is interpreted in many ways, but I tend to see it as a modern Celtic tradition with a focus on healing (self, others, Wasteland) and that takes inspiration from the myths from the Matter of Britain and other Celtic tales. How do you define it?

It is good to see another Avalonian living in the Bible Belt (we are in south-west Virginia). I enjoyed reading you Blog, and I would like to know a bit more about The Daughters of the Sacred Grail. We are not looking to join (we’re the founders of the Avalon Druid Order), but we do like to refer Seekers to other groups when it is clear they are not called to our particular (pre-Celtic, Faery Druid) Avalonian focus. We believe there is room in the Avalon Mystery Tradition for pre-Celtic, Celtic, Arthurian, and other “denominations”. If you feel the same way, the perhaps we could open a dialogue and reciprocate on referrals? If not, we understand completely.

Morgaine, nice to “meet” you! I let our group’s leader know of your interest, though she may confer with our council before answering as she likes to get the group’s opinion on things. From the point of this blog, I would be interested in maybe sharing information about our groups or your perspective on the tradition. If you’d like to discuss this more, please email me at appleisle3@yahoo.com.